Mr. Wayne, via Wikimedia
There are only three copies of the contract that founded Apple back in 1976–one for each of the signers: Steve Jobs, Woz, and Apple’s long, lost co-founder Ronald Wayne. Soon, Sotheby’s will be auctioning off Mr. Wayne’s copy and the puntastic New York Post is nearly beside itself with the word play potential:
“It’s the seed that spawned Apple — and Silicon Valley’s digerati are lusting for it like a hungry Adam,” begins the story. Wait, did we miss that part in the Bible? Wasn’t Eve the one that took a bite?
According to the Post, Sotheby’s originally thought bids might go as high as $150,000. But the auction house vastly underestimated fanboys spending potential for anything with an Apple logo. Insiders now estimate the document could sell for up to $1 million “due to ego-bidding expected among tech rivals.” Maybe Yuri needs something for his new foyer?
Mr. Wayne, whom Steve Jobs referred to as Apple’s “adult-in-chief” infamously dumped his 10 percent stake, which would now be valued at $2 billion, that same year for $2,300. The other two copies of the contact haven’t changed hands, but Mr. Wayne sold his to an undisclosed collector, who is now auctioning it off at Sotheby’s for a minimum bid of $100,000. We hope for Mr. Wayne’s sake that he got a better price on the physical contract that he did for the equity.
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